How To Install The Latest Nvidia GPU Drivers On Linux

It is common knowledge among Linux users that Nvidia makes the best drivers for Linux users. As a result, most Linux users choose to go with Nvidia over AMD when running a Linux PC. Still, even though they make superior drivers, that doesn’t make them any easier to install. Despite them being of better quality than AMD’s Radeon drivers, users still manage to be confused as to how they can easily get Nvidia GPU drivers working on their Linux PC.

If you’ve ever had trouble getting your Nvidia graphics card working, worry no more, as we’ll be going over exactly what it takes to get all modern Nvidia GPU drivers working correctly.

Ubuntu Instructions

Ubuntu users can easily get the latest Nvidia GPU drivers enabling a PPA. To enable this PPA, open up a terminal and enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

After adding this new PPA to the system, you’ll need to refresh the Ubuntu software sources to reflect the changes.

sudo apt update

When the software sources are up to date, you’ll need to also update your Ubuntu PC. Update the software on your system by running the apt upgrade command.

Keep in mind that the latest version of Nvidia Linux drivers, as of writing this article is version 390. To change versions, look for “Additional drivers” in the application menu. It’ll show you different versions of the Nvidia driver you can install right away.

Debian Instructions

Debian Stable doesn’t have the “absolute latest” version of the Nvidia GPU drivers due to the nature of how Debian works. If you’d like to run the latest Nvidia drivers, you’ll first need to convert your Debian installation to the Unstable branch.

Note: be sure that “non-free” is enabled in sources.list or the Nvidia drivers will not install.

Convert to unstable by opening your sources.list file with Nano:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Convert every reference to “stable”, “wheezy” and other Debian release names to “unstable”. For example:

deb http://ftp2.fr.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

Save the file with Ctrl + O, and then run a distribution upgrade:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

When the upgrade is complete, install aptitude. This makes installing the drivers easier.

sudo apt install aptitude

You’ll also need to add the 32-bit architecture so that the 32 bit Nvidia drivers will install.

Arch Linux Instructions

For current Nvidia GPUs, getting the latest driver on Arch Linux is as easy as:

sudo pacman -S nvidia

To get the latest 32-bit related packages (important for playing Steam games), enter the following:

sudo pacman -S nvidia nvidia-libgl lib32-nvidia-libgl nvidia-settings

Lastly, using the Nvidia drivers on Arch Linux requires enabling a “persistence” systemd service. The drivers will work fine without it, but enabling this file is important, or you may run into some errors.

sudo systemctl enable nvidia-persistenced.service

and start it with:

sudo sudo systemctl start nvidia-persistenced.service

Fedora Instructions

There are many ways to install the Nvidia GPU drivers on Fedora, but the easiest way by far is to go with Negativo17.org’s methods. To start off, open up a terminal window and update all the packages on the system using DNF.

sudo dnf update

Fedora doesn’t support the proprietary Linux drivers, so when the upgrade finishes, you’ll need to add a new software repository.

You should know that you don’t need to install the Nvidia Beta drivers. It’s entirely possible to head over to the official Nvidia website, and download the latest stable driver, then follow our instructions on the article anyway.